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The millstones are surrounded by a wooden cover or 'tun',
with the 'horse' supporting the 'hopper' and 'shoe'. When the mill
was operated commercially, grain fell from a grain bin in the
Garner, through a chute into the hopper, then slowly fed into the
grain 'shoe'. This is agitated by the 'damsel', an iron rod
connected to the top of the revolving stone spindle. Grain is
shaken from the 'shoe' into the centre of the upper or 'runner'
stone to be milled into wholemeal flour as it moves to the outer
edge of the stones.
The middle picture shows the runner stone being held on edge by
the stone crane. The 'runner' and the 'bed' stone are 'French'
stones, each created from a number of pieces of hard flint-like
stone, or burrs, that were quarried near Paris. Specialised stone
masons would select a number of burrs before cutting them to
produce the millstones, holding them together by circular iron
bands and plaster of paris. An iron 'bar' or 'rynd' across the
central 'eye' fits over the 'mace' on the stone spindle, balanced
on the pivot point of the spindle, and turns the stone as the
spindle rotates. This runner stone is made from thirteen burrs
with four inner and nine outer pieces.
The bottom picture shows the lower bed stone, fixed in position
on the Stone Floor, and surrounded by the close-fitting wooden
skirting. A hole in the skirting allows the meal produced by the
millstones to fall down a chute to the Meal
Bagging area on the floor below. At the centre of the stone,
the stone spindle is fitted with the thick cast-iron 'H' shaped
'mace', kept in position by the weight of the runner stone. The
spindle emerges through the mace to form the pivot point upon
which the runner stone rests. This bed stone is made from four
inner and eight outer burrs.
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